"President George W. Bush told a group of New York school kids on Wednesday: 'Childrens do learn.'"Though, as the Orwellian White House website tells us, he said:
As yesterday's positive Report Card shows, children do learn when standards are high and results are measured.
He is an idiot, but his staff refuses to admit it.
I am beyond sighs with these people.
7 comments:
The "No Child Left Behind" thing is up for renewal at the same time as the children's health "insurance" program. He's pushing for the edumacation policy that apparently teaches students that the important thing in school is to pass tests. Why no interest in improving/maintaining the health of these students so they are able to learn real information?
Here, let me: ::sigh::
I laughed out loud when I read this. Too funny.
I'm fed up to the point of apathy. And that's exactly where they want me to be, and that makes me sad and angry.
Nina, exactly. I have yet to meet a teacher who likes NCLB, and yet they push that. But the President wants to veto insurance for children.
I suspect the issue here is that he is not very deep. After all, he has shown no ability to really reassess his own policies. Reminds me of the Custer figure in LIttle Big Man that way. Nothing can force him to rethink a "Bush decision." Somewhere he decided that this education policy was THE answer and evidence to the contrary is simply not factored. Who ever we elect next time, let's please get someone who can actually think.
Nicole, don't give up. At least we can employ humor, as Tony points out. :)
I haven't met a teacher that likes NCLB, either. Unfortunately, Bush (and others) has done such a good job villifying (sp?) the teacher's unions. When they speak out against it, they are just seen as being "greedy."
Streak- As a parent with kids in the middle of the NCLB act, it's depressing to witness the way teaching is now completely test preparation. In third grade my son's teacher spent weeks teaching the children standardized testing "strategies". There is little room for individual teacher creation and tailoring curriculum to individual or group needs/interests. I don't claim to have the answers to public education's woes. My personal opinion, though, is that NCLB is designed to fail. Bush is not a public education advocate- quite the contrary. If public schools are shown to fail, think about how that could further his true agenda. It's ironic to me that a republican president has pulled so much local control of schools away in favor of central, federalized control. Personally, my philosophy with these programs are "follow the money". I don't have much documentation at this time, but the development and monitoring of these tests has to be an incredible cash cow for someone. Chances are they're cronies of Bush. Like I say, I'm speaking second hand on that, but I'd love to see the money trail on this deal. Here's a couple interesting articles on NCLB issues if you're interested. Even when vouchers start to make some sense in some cases, Bush is talking federal, not local. It's got to be easier to reward your lobby buddies from the federal coffers than trying to do so in a million different locales.
Bush's Family Profits from 'No Child' Act
The Administrative Burden of No Child Left Behind
Later- BB
BTW- smooth how you were able to reference Little Big Man :-).= BB
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